Hi Kevin, I "took the plunge" and cut out as large as possible opening in the aft cockpit bulkhead. I am glad I did. Over time I have been able to check, wire, tune and install several other bits of gear on my M-17, 1977, "AS-IS". Since you are going to the trouble of making a hole in your boat, make it big enough to get both hands inside at the same time and also be able to see what you are doing. Check out my boat on the MSOG photosite to see what I did. For the new bulkhead I used a high density plastic cutting board I had lying around but a piece of Kingboard would probably be better. 1/4 inch is plenty thick. Definitely a project worth doing. Fair winds, Tom Buzzi On Wed, May 23, 2018 at 5:16 PM, Kevin Sandwick <ksandwick@hotmail.com> wrote:
The bolts holding the gudgeon plates are loose on my new to me M-17 (hull #400), I can access the middle set but the top and especially the lower set are a problem,
I am thinking about cutting in a 6 inch inspection port in the bottom of the rear lazerette, That would give me access to the lower set. Maybe a 4 inch port in the cockpit side of the transom for the upper set. I may not need the upper, it is reachable but difficult.
Before I start cutting holes in the boat I figure this is a good place to hear from others who have solved this problem.
Thanks,
Kevin